


Mercy of the Wolf

by Ironlawyer



Category: Marvel 616
Genre: Angst, Captivity, F/F, Secret Invasion (Marvel), Skrull(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22297216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ironlawyer/pseuds/Ironlawyer
Summary: A glimpse of Jess's time in Skrull captivity.
Relationships: Carol Danvers/Jessica Drew
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18
Collections: You Gave Me A Stocking 2019





	Mercy of the Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crait](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crait/gifts).



She doesn't know why they remove her from the stasis pod. The only indication that any time has passed since they captured her is the increased occupancy of the pods that surround her.

She is shackled and walked down the corridor of pods by four skrull soldiers whose fingers twitch on their stunners every time she breathes. Pod after pod, filled with the faces of friends and stranger, all frozen with a similar look of vague terror or fury. She aches to help them, but even if she could take the guards alone, she has no idea how to work the pods.

She has no choice but to follow her captors' every order.

She is taken to an infirmary, a sterile, Earthly place, she wonders if it was specifically built for dealing with their human prisoners.

The doctor wears a human face, and he is jittery enough that she believes he might be a prisoner too, but it's impossible to know for sure. He says nothing to her and she says nothing to him. The doctor's stiff impersonal manner reminds her of the Hydra medical exams of her youth.

Her foot chatters a repetitive beat on the tiled flooring as he does his checks. The temptation to knock the doctor out and run is almost overwhelming. But brute forces is not going to work in an enemy stronghold, be patient, bide her time. Carol would probably blast her way out, but Carol's not here and Jess can't get herself killed if she wants to fuck these skrulls up. She'll tear this place to the ground eventually.

The doctor is delicate throughout the examination. He is gentle, fearful almost, and she thinks perhaps he is right to be; she would kill him in a moment of it would help her get out of here, and the skrulls would probably kill him in a moment if he fucks something up.

It's not a way to live and she wishes she could trust him enough to reassure him.

At the end of the exam, the doctor fetches a needle, clears his throat apologetically, then injects her without pause or explanation. He bites his lip as he dabs away the spot of blood the needle leaves. She realises he is not fearful of her, but of * _damaging_ * her. She's...important, somehow.

Before the guards come to collect her, the doctor turns his back, shuffles some things around and Jess pockets a scalpel, left inconspicuously between the folds of a stack of papers.

She nods gravely at the doctor as she leaves and hopes to hell that he'll survive this.

\--

The skrull soldiers lead her out of the infirmary and down to a small, empty cell, with a force shield barrier. It's probably a bad sign that they didn't take her back to stasis.

She's barely had a chance to check the cell for flaws (of which there are none) before someone enters the room. She's not like the other skrulls Jess has seen, she's decked out in regalia and strides with the arrogance of someone who knows they are important.

'Jessica Drew, what a pleasure to finally meet you.'

'Who the hell are you?'

The skrull smiles, twisted and fake, like a joker who's had someone walk right into their joke. 'Why, Jess, dear,' the skrull's face melts and twists like warm playdoh being reshaped, until Jess is looking into a perfect mirror, 'I'm you.'

\--

Veranke tells her of Carol, and Jess is stuck with the images she paints in her mind. Images of the monster wearing her face as Carol and she talk, as they fight alongside each other, as they finally cross the line with a tentative first kiss. She feels dirty in her own skin, like she is complicit somehow. Like she will never be able to look at Carol again without her love being tainted by this guilt.

'Why are you doing this? Why did you take me out of stasis just to torment me?'

Veranke steps close, she reaches through the force shield without problem and cups Jess's cheek. Jess is frozen to the spot. She could step back away from the touch, but there's only the wall behind her and she won't be backed up against it. Veranke embraces the shudder her touch sends through Jess, and smiles.

'I am not here to torment you, Jessica. You have my gratitude. At the end of this war, this body of yours will have done so much for my people. We will build statues in your honor. I wanted to speak with you. To thank you in person.'

Jess is like the last of a dying species in a zoo. Her survival matters but Jessica the person, does not. 'You want to thank me? Really? Then leave Carol alone.'

Veranke steps back and nods solemnly. 'Don't worry. You have served my empire well and I will repay you. When the time comes, your love will die in ignorance. She will have known your love and nothing more of it.'

The meager attempt at mercy, the idea that she should be thankful for the offer to kill the woman she love, it should be laughable but Jess finds it something closer to pitiable. It must be a cruel life where such ideas are considered merciful.

'Please, please, just leave her the fuck alone. No friendship, no killing, just leave her be. ' Jess is not above begging and maybe she should be, because Carol would never be caught dead asking for the mercy of an enemy, but she's not.

Veranke backs away from the cell. 'I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't do that. I will show her what mercy I can. You have my word.'

'Not good enough.'

'I'm afraid there's nothing you can do about it.'

'How about I slit my fucking throat.' Jess take the scalpel from her pocket and holds it to he neck. 'You need me alive, don't you?'

But Veranke remains unmoved. 'You're right. I do need you alive for now. But I'm afraid you're not the first of our prisoners to consider such a solution.'

Jess' whole body is seized by convulsions. The blade clatters to the floor and she drops to her knees as the room is filled with a noxious smoke and she feels her consciousness slipping away.

'For what it's worth, Jessica,' Veranke says, 'I am truly sorry I can't offer you you're heart's desires.' With that, Veranke turns away.

Jess' last thought as she begins to lose consciousness, is that if she survives this she won't stop until every last fucking skrull is dead.


End file.
